Developing Soft Skills through Dual Higher Education: A Comparison of Education and Business Master’s Students

Abstract

This exploratory study examines changes in selected soft skills among master’s students participating in Dual Higher Education (DHE) programmes and investigates whether these changes differ between fields of education and business. Using a pre–post design, data were collected from a convenience sample of 17 students enrolled DHE master’s programmes in education and business. Students completed a questionnaire before and after participating in the programme, and repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to analyse changes over time, differences between fields of study, and interaction effects. The results indicated a significant improvement over time in oral and written communication skills, with a medium-to-large effect size. Education students reported consistently higher efficacy beliefs than business students at both measurement points, suggesting stable field-related differences. In addition, a significant interaction between time and field of study was found for social competence, with education students scoring higher than business students at post-test. These findings suggest that DHE master’s programmes may effectively support the development of communication skills, while other soft skills appear to be shaped by disciplinary context and prior experiences. This underscores the need for discipline-sensitive and pedagogically intentional programme design.